Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Ode to an Active Life

A few weeks ago I got to talking with an old friend of mine, and he reminded me about a conversation we'd had a few years ago where I said that part of my master plan was to keep working out into my old age so that I wouldn't be one of those old men that can barely walk.  I wanted to be snowboarding and riding my mountain bike into my 80s at least.  

Since then, I've managed to stay pretty active.  Yeah, I fluctuate up and down on the scale like Luther Vandross (may he rest in peace) from year to year... but I could successfully argue that 215 is my perfect weight for XBox battling in the winter, and 190 is my fighting weight for riding in the summer.  There's something I love about the challenge of working off my Xbox fat every Jan to April that I just can't let go of....

Back to the point - I still agree with the idea of maintaining an active life in principle, but in practice, that active life has come back around to slap me a few times.  Namely, a broken back, arm, collapsed lung, countless scrapes and bruises, and an ACL in my right knee.  Just last week, I got the news that somewhere over that past few months, I re-tore my ACL graft, and will get to endure another surgery this winter.  So, in honor of my commitment to health, I thought I'd share some of the trophies of activity. 

As my orthopedic surgeon said last week, either you sit on the couch, or you keep doing what you're doing and do your best to protect yourself.  The bottom line is, I'd rather be a bit gimpy in my 90's than die of heart disease in my 70s.  So, with that in mind - enjoy the fruits of my labors...

My most recent award - another torn ACL.  You can see the screw from my last one at bottom left, in the middle, you can see my PCL (it's black) running from upper left of the joint to the bottom right.  What should be crossing in the other direction is my ACL...wait, where'd it go? 

This one will be with me until the day I die...here's a nice side view of the titanium rods and screws that are holding my back together from my T-11 to my L-1.  And no, I don't set off the airport metal detectors, although I do set off the door alarms at Target from time to time...